Conductor support



Feb. 25, 1930. s. s. MATTHES CONDUCTOR SUPPORT Filed Dec. 1, 1928 Inventor SAMUEL/5 ES A tlorney Patented Feb. 25, 1930 1 7 32 UNIT-E"D STATES PATENT OFFICE I I I SAIVIUEL siMA'r'rnns; or xrnnsrrnnn, 01110, assrenon TO THE onro BRASS COMPANY,

- or MANSFIELD, OHIO, A CORPORATION or NEW JERSEY I I I I CONDUCTOR SUPPORT Application filed December 1, 1928. Serial No..323,110.

. My invention relates to, overhead trolley wire supports and -particularly. in connection withsuch supports as are adapted to permit thecrossing of two or more trolley wires and provided with, means, for. insulating one, or

more ofthe wires from the other. conductors. 'One of theobjects of my invention is to provide a devicewhich is fiexiblein that insulated relation between any one or more of a plurality of trolley'wires maybe varied at will. 1

My invention relates particularly to such devices as are known: in the art as overhead trolley frogs-and switches and overhead crossings, either fixed ioradjustable.

It. is invariably the: case where two or more trolleywires cross eaoh other. that atv the junction of crossing a device known as an overhead; crossing,. either fixed or adjustable, is employed ,and also wherea branch orturnout trolley wire occurs fronra main line, "a switch or frog islemployed. It also often happensthat it is desirablelto insulate one or more of the trolley. wires from the 2.5 other wire orv wires ator, adjacent the point of crossing or turnout, and in the pastit has beenthe practice to-insert in one-or more of the trolley lines a device known, asQa section insulator and which is spacedirom thecross- 0 ing or switch and connected thereto by. ashort length of trolley wire; as shownin Patent 1,465,308 issued AugustQlst, 1923.

V My invent on 1s tonnproveupon such conditions and combineln OIlQdGVlCQ, which is 3 so constructed that thedevice can very'easily be changed to an ordinary switch or crossing which can'be tl1rown:1nto,comb1nat1on wlth insulating attachments which Wlll. lnsulate any one .ormore of the trolley'wir'es. and by v sodoing, aimore compact overhead,arrangement canfbe constructed and whi'chis neeter in appearance and cheaper to construct.

. Therearaatthe present time, devices made inthe form of crossings whicharepermanently arrangedto insulateone wire from another, Y but such devices are very heavy compared with the invention I hereindisclose and such devicesare-more or lessspeclal. With my arrangement it is only necessary to carry the live portion'and theinsulated portion in stock; and such parts can then be combined to suit the requirements, or the live, portion may be employed. without the insulating portion.

There is also furtheradvantage in my arrangement in that failure of one of the parts does not. involve loss of the, entire device and worn out parts can be renewed separate- 1y, quickly and with a least amount of disturbance to the other parts ofthe combination; and this is a very important itemin attempting to make changes in a deviceonce installed and where the cars are, continually. in operation.

My invention resides in the new and novel construction, combination and relation of the various parts described in this specification andshown in the attached drawing.

In the drawing Fig. 1 is a top view of a frog or switchhaw ijng two insulated members andonelive mem- Fig. 2 is a side view ofFig. 1 with a small part in section. s

Fig. 3is a sectionon the line 33 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 isan endattachment for maintaining such trolley wire in position as isnot insulated from the main portion of the switch. I

In one preferred embodimento'f my invention I employ a bodymember- 1 having a 7 through wire groove 2 and a branch wire groove 3 on the upper face and a clamping member I heldin place by meansof the bolts 5 and is used-to clamp such wireor wires as are not insulated from the member 1', as, for instance, the trolley wire 6. The channel 2 in the arm-T is the sameas the channel 3 in the arm 8 and likewise the arm 9 has a channel the same as the other arms. u I

The side walls of the arms 7, 8 and 9 are provided with hook members 10 which form a recess 11. In connectionwith the arm 7 I have shown a rotatable clamping member 12 which has integrally formed therewith trans:

'versely projectinglugs 13 and a camshaped in my prior Patent'No. 1,682,136 dated.

'lips 15 which are adapted to be folded begroove formed by the lips 15. During'the rotating operation the clamping portion 14 gradually braces the trolley wire 6 downwardly into the botto-mof the groove 2 and when the lips 15' are then folded about the wire, the trolley wire will then be held in a fixed relation with respect to the arm 7 and the clamp 4 will prevent the wirebeing drawn out.

Such a clamping member may be applied to each one of the arms 7, 8 and 9, thereby producing what is termed a live frog, or if they are applied to all of the projecting'arms on a crossing, either fixed or adjustable, they will form therewith what is known as a live fixed or adjustable cross-over. I make no claim for such a devlce as 1t 1s clearly shown August 28th, 1928, but mention it as being one of the arrangements which is possible with my invention.

In the device shown in Figs. 1 and 2, I have shown two trolley wires 16 and 17 as insulated from each other and from the wire G and this is brought about by applying to the arms 8 and 9 a removable end member 18 which has a projecting portion 19 adapted to be positioned'in the groove 3 or may be applied to the groove in any of the other two arms. The portion 19 has a transverse passage 20 to receive the through bolt or pin 21.

The end member being positioned in the groove 3, the pin 21 is then positioned within the recess 11 and the passage 20 and a cotter pin 22 inserted to prevent removal of the pin 21.- This will lock the end member 18' in position excepting when the pin 21 is removed intentionally and will prevent the end member 20 being moved out of position in a longitudinal direction or in a vertical direction. As I do not desire the end member 18 to rotate about the pin 21, I extend the end 23 of the portion 19 so that ,itfwill form a brace by engaging with the bottom surface of the groove 3. The member 18 is provided at its lower edge with a shoulder 24 which butts against the end face of the arm 8'andforms thereforea smooth run for a current collector from the arm 8 to the end member 18 or vice inwardly of the arms 7, 8 and 9, andact as guideson the lower surface of, the frogs for the moving current collector.

Secured to the end member 18 is an insulating member 26 and bolts or rivets 27 hold the parts in place. The insulating member 26 may be made as long as the requirements demand.

To the opposite end of the member 26 is secured another end member 28 and secured in place by means of bolts or rivets 29. The

end member 28has a projection 30'provided with a passage 31 to receive the trolleyv wire 16 and having set screws 32 to engage the wire to grip and hold it in position.

The arm 9 is also provided with'an insulating device as just described. If desired, the arm 7 may also be provided with insulating attachment or any one of the arms only may have the insulated attachment.

It will be recognized by those skilled in the art that I have produced a very flexible device which can be made to meet a number of varying'conditions and with a minimum number of parts to be maintained in stock by the user and that it will be very-easy after the device has been installed to change the conditions as desired, or to remove the parts with a minimum amount of labor, time and ex pense.

It will also be recognized that those skilled inthe art,'such as'manufacturers and users between the body member 1 and the end member 18 about the pin .21 as an axis, which may be to advantageover some conditions. Having described my invention I claim A trolley wire support'arranged to receive a plurality of trolley wires comprising a body member, a rotary clamp mounted on the body and rotatable into position relative to the body to clamp one of thetrolley wires therebetween and having means rotatable therewith to be attached directly to the trolley wire a to lock said clamp against backward rotation, a non-rotatable end member mounted on the body and removably secured thereto, an

insulating member secured to the end member and having a guiding edge for a movable current collector, a second end member secured to the lnsulatmg member 111 spaced and insulated relation to the'fiitst' end member and 7 having means to receive and hold one of the trolley wires, the first said end member being removable from the body without disturbing the wires secured to the second end member or to the rotary clamp. i V

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

SAMUEL s. MATTHES. 

